Unfortunate Calculation
by Kool Kato
Summary: Tony Stark is left traumatized after the events of New York in many different ways. Nightmares, anxiety attacks and a silent illness that manages to shock Tony Stark awake. Of course, he refuses to tell the Avengers about his rapidly decreasing condition. Based after New York, the Avengers (excluding Thor) live in 'Avengers Tower', Pepperony, and many hilarious/strong friendships
1. Revelation

_Author's note: This is my first Avenger's story, and this plot line just popped into my head! I am planning to create a schedule in which I update every week, but it depends on reviews/follows/favorites. I live for reviews and in return you get virtual cookies and a hug. Enjoy :)_

**Disclaimer: I, unfortunately, do not own any of the Avengers. Sadness is overwhelming.**

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Tony wakes with a jolt of pain that travels through his heart. His eyes roll back into his head as he desperately clutches his reactor, trying to assess the situation. Then, the burn suddenly disappears. His hitched breathing slowly returns to normal and his fists unclench.

Tony reaches for Pepper, until he realizes that she's at a conference in Tokyo. His anchor to sanity wouldn't be back for two weeks, and he was stuck at the tower with his fellow Avengers (excluding Thor). The constant destruction of his kitchen appliances, the violent training sessions and the steady decrease of his food stock is wearing Tony out. Although he would never admit it that he secretly enjoyed the company.

He grunts and scans his rooms for the soft, comforting, glow of the alarm clock. Squinting, he manages to read 5:50, which isn't horrible considering he wakes up from nightmares almost every week. Tony rubs his eyes, steps out of his large bed and blearily walks out of his room.

He reaches his customized laboratory after a small amount of time, and subconsciously rubs his arc reactor soothingly. The bolts of agony that had shot through his body had instantly woke him. This wasn't the first time it happened, and it was increasing in pain.

Four times. Four times Tony had bit his lip in order to prevent him from crying out in pain and alarming the rest of the household. He's beginning to worry, the sense of dread pooling in the pit of his stomach. He slumps down in his chair and starts preparing tests that revolved around the mechanisms of his arc reactor. An X-Ray and a blood sample would be enough for today.

Tony steps into the machine and stands absolutely still, the quiet whir of the instrument alerting him to the beginning of the X-Ray. He closes his eyes until the hum dies down, and returns back to his seat. He glances at his screen, checking to see if any of the Avengers were awake. The heat signatures show that they remained to be sound asleep in their beds.

He picks up the small device, pricking his finger until a small droplet of blood appears. Quickly wiping it off, he exhales in relief. No deadly blood poisoning this year. Smiling, he looks up to read the X-Ray results. Then he drops his elegant piece of technology and it hits the marble floor with a loud _clang_. His breathing becomes inaudible, his posture unmoving.

Tony Stark continued to stare at the medical results for a very long time. His eyesight begins to blur, tired of the fixation upon a single point. He's snapped back to the current, crappy, reality when JARVIS alerts him of his unusual silence. His eyes flit across the laboratory, before managing to settle on the computer. Again.

"Jar. Tell me, god, tell me that there has been a glitch." Tony asks, threading his hands through his hair. He can almost sense his AI's hesitation.

"Sir, I believe there is no miscalculation in these particular readings. Would you prefer if I analyzed them again?" Jarvis replies, a hint of sorrow beneath his British voice.

"No. No, that's okay. I want these files saved on my personal server and I want any trace of them immediately erased." The billionaire sighs, standing up and brushing the imaginary dust off his shirt.

"Sir. This is unwise course of action, I recommend you to alert the Avengers of your condition." Jarvis insists, although Stark's stubbornness was a force to be reckoned with. It was unlikely he would budge from his decision.

"No, J. I want this secret to be kept between us. I'll figure it out soon enough. I'm a genius, remember?" Tony flashes a grin, and quickly exits the laboratory before his AI continues to try and make him change his mind.

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_Thank-you for reading! Hope you liked it! Remember, reviews are the uttermost awesome things that can make an author's day _


	2. Breakfast Madness

_Author's note: I decided to post this a few days earlier because I pretty much had nothing to do! Thanks to weasleyisthekingg, Haytar96, PlushChrome and danceswithhorses for reviewing! Thanks to everybody else who followed or favorited too :) Remember, reviews are like gold_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Avengers**_

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He began climbing up the long, twisty, stairs whilst softly sucking his finger. Tony crept up silently, his thoughts violently pounding inside his tortured mind. The X-Rays had shown that the shrapnel was slowly, but surely, inching it's way back into the flesh of his heart. It seems the electric pulses the Chitauri's weapons had been emitting had jammed his arc reactor. It hadn't affected the energy of the reactor that keeps him alive, but it had disturbed the frequency which keeps the shrapnel at a moderately save distance.

The small time in which his arc reactor failed during his visit to outer space had allowed the metal fragments to move even closer.

Thus, the shrapnel had been able to move freely outside of the arc reactor's boundaries and now there was no way to stop it.

Tony sighs. He stops and braces himself against the cool, smooth, wall. He hesitates before emitting a low whine of sorrow, a sound that symbolizes too many emotions at once. Tony takes a small moment before collecting his broken feelings and continues up the stairs.

It takes a moment to realize that all of the Avengers are happily munching at their breakfast in the main dining room when Tony barges in. He mentally curses Jarvis for not warning him, but Tony realizes this was his way of revenge for not listening to his smart advice. 'Happily' is also most likely the overstatement of the damn year.

In other words, Steve is picking at his eggs with a fixed look that could bore someone to death, Natasha is reading S.H.I.E.L.D files, and Clint is aiming grapes at a totally random target. Bruce, however, sits at the opposite end of the table and is drinking a red/gold cup of tea.

"Always a party at the Avenger's crib." Tony smirks, past problems momentarily forgotten, reaches over to steal a grape from Clint and pops it into his mouth. Clint's expression is priceless, he'll ask Jarvis to print a picture of this exact moment.

Tony moves past the table and grabs an apple from the counter, purposefully biting into the fruit as loud as he can. He sees Steve twitch irritably, and the corners of Bruce's mouth curve up slightly. Natasha, of course, continues to read and he can feel Clint's stare fixated on him (still annoyed by the stolen grape).

He doesn't, however, manage to dodge a skillfully thrown grape and swerves around to glare at Clint.

"Violence is not allowed in this tower. You better learn the rules, birdy. I know you wouldn't appreciate pink arrows." Tony says strictly, but his eyes are twinkling and he grins afterwards. He places the half-eaten apple on the counter for later use. Maybe for a smoothie or something.

He turns back and strolls towards his coffeemaker. Until an actual fricking banana hits his head. Tony looks at the fallen banana, and back at Clint. Clint looks back. He looks back at the banana.

Tony picks up the banana, peels off the delicate skin and looks directly at Clint. He walks over to Clint, holds the banana a short distance away from his face and suddenly stops.

Clint's eyes widen in terror when he understands Tony's plan, but he's too slow. Tony runs after Clint, laughing maniacally, and manages to tackle him to the ground with an _oomph. _

Clint struggles and flails wildly, but Tony has got him in a locked grip and the banana is hovering right above his nose. Clint grabs half of the fruit, crushes it into his free fist and shoves it into Tony's face.

Tony does exactly the same.

"Natasha! Help m-"A second later and a banana-faced Clint bursts into laughter.

"Aww Tony, I'm too pretty to be covered in banana." Clint rolls over onto his side and jumps up, walking towards the sink.

"That's debatable." Tony follows and waits until Clint has finished cleaning his face. Grabbing the softest towel he owns, Tony washes his sticky skin and then returns to his coffeemaker.

After he's finished creating his espresso, he plunks down on the seat next to Bruce. Clint and Natasha have apparently gone to the training room in absolute silence so he leans over to see what Steve is doing.

"Stark. Stop it. Your banana smell is getting all over me." Steve grunts, moving his chair away from Tony.

"Sir, yes, sir!" Tony mock salutes and shuffles back into his own seat. He hears Bruce chuckle lightly and he has the urge to give the damn guy a warm hug.

However, Tony isn't known for showing affection so he leans back and sips his drink. Then, the bolts of pain shoot through his heart at lighting speeds. He purses his lips in order to keep him from shouting out, but a strangled noise manages to escape.

It's enough to make Steve and Bruce swerve around in alarm.

"Tony! Are you okay?" Bruce asks worriedly, already standing up to check his fast pulse and monitor his hitched breathing.

"Should I call 991? S.H.I.E.L.D? Jarvis?" Steve rambles, stepping forwards and taking control of the situation. He's behind Bruce, his eyebrows are furrowed and a frown is taking over his facial expression.

Tony collects himself in record time, clearing his tortured expression and exhaling at a normal pace. He has to admit that takes skills, yet the pain is already fading and he feels better.

"Yep. Just another major headache from staying in the laboratory for ages. Being an awesome genius does have a negative side." Tony shrugs, flashes another smile and continues drinking his lukewarm espresso.

He sees them instantly relax in his peripheral vision, but there is still some tension between. Tony decides to tease his teammate and break the thickening ice.

"Didn't know you cared, Capsicle." Tony states. He meant it as a simple joke, but there's an air of awkwardness now. He couldn't deal with this, so he says he's going to his laboratory to work on his new suit.

He might have imagined it, since he just had another shrap reac attack (that's his new term for it, short for shrapnel and reactor) but he swears he heard the loyal Captain whisper, "We all care Tony".

Whilst Tony is striding towards his lab, he knows he's running out of time. During the day? That shouldn't have happened until a few weeks had passed. He reaches the door, sits down and slams his head on the table.

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